Nutrition puts patient safety at risk

Caroline Lecko of the NPSA told the Hospital Caterers' Association conference in Birmingham today a further 31 reports resulted in 'moderate harm', 96 were classified as causing 'low harm' while the remaining majority of 285 were not assessed to have any harmful consequences. "That may not sound that much, but these were avoidable incidents and I believe that the figures are a massive under-reporting of the problem because too many people don't realise food is a patient safety issue. She said that one of the deaths was down to an elderly patient not getting enough fluid. "Can you believe it, this is 2007 we're talking about and we have someone dying in hospital from dehydration." The other two fatalities were due to 'aspiration' when patients with swallowing difficulties had not been properly identified as such and so were not given the necessary textured diet. She said the NPSA was following up the publication last year of its '10 Key Characteristics of Good Nutritional Care in Hospitals' with fact sheets containing extra guidance. The first three will be launched at the Royal College of Nurses annual conference on April 28. Lecko added that it was important that caterers and medical staff used a common language of agreed terms when dealing with texture modified diets. "I have seen doctors' notes that refer to 'sloppy foods' and 'custard-like'. What do they mean? It's unclear and confusing and we must sort it out." The HCA is celebrating its 60th birthday this year and opened the conference with a specially commissioned film celebrating its work since the inception of the NS itself in 1948. Chairman Neil Watson-Jones told member they should be proud of what they have achieved so far, but be ready to look forward to the challenges of tomorrow. The two-day conference at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole closes tomorrow.